Latest news with #post-DeepSeek
Time of India
22-05-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Asian shares drop after US selloff, treasuries dip
Asian shares fell and Treasuries continued their slide at the open Thursday following losses in Wall Street on concerns about the US's ballooning deficit . A regional stock gauge dropped for the first time in three days on weaker openings in Australia, Japan and South Korea. The dollar edged down for a fourth consecutive session. US equity-index futures were steady after the S&P 500 index closed down 1.6% on Wednesday, its sharpest slide in a month. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Semua yang Perlu Anda Ketahui Tentang Limfoma Limfoma Pelajari Undo Treasuries fell across the curve Wednesday with long-term debt bearing the brunt as the 30-year yield rose 12 basis points. Tepid demand for a $16 billion sale of 20-year bonds rekindled fears over US government borrowing and budget deficit. That sapped sentiment after a sharp rebound in risk assets over the past month and revealed structural concerns in the bond market. 'The soft 20-year auction fueled additional weakness,' said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist at JonesTrading. 'It has been a theme all week starting with the Moody's downgrade. Additionally, there is the deficit/budget debate being fought in the background of this environment.' In Asia, investors will be monitoring the Korean won after the currency jumped to a six-month high. Local media had reported that the US believes a relatively weak won is a fundamental cause of South Korea's trade surplus. The currency weakened 0.4% in early Asian trade. Live Events Elsewhere, Baidu Inc. posted a surprise rise in revenue after the Chinese internet search leader fended off intensifying competition in AI and benefited from demand for computing in the post-DeepSeek Chinese AI development boom. Traders have been piling into bets that long-term bond yields would surge on concerns over the US's swelling debt and deficits, with Moody's Ratings on Friday lowering the nation's credit score below the top triple-A level. For many, the message was: Unless America gets its finances in order, the perceived risks of lending to the government will rise. The White House ramped up the pressure on Republicans on Wednesday urging lawmakers to quickly approve President Donald Trump's signature tax bill, adding that a failure to do so would be the 'ultimate betrayal.' Former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said he's more alarmed by the country's growing budget deficit than its trade imbalances, and urged Washington to prioritize fiscal repair. 'The budget deficit is a larger concern to me than the trade deficit,' he said during a panel discussion at the Qatar Economic Forum on Wednesday. 'I hope we do get more spending cuts.' The murky economic outlook has fueled hedging activity in Treasury options, with investors targeting higher rates on longer-dated bonds by the end of the year. Those wagers echo sentiment on Wall Street, where strategists from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to JPMorgan Chase & Co. are lifting their forecasts for yields. 'These higher yields make it much tougher to justify today's very high valuation levels,' said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak. 'So, it's something that will likely create some renewed headwinds for stocks.' In commodities, gold rose for a fourth session Thursday. Oil extended its drop as higher US crude stockpiles reinforced worries about an oversupplied market, with geopolitical concerns also in focus. Bitcoin hit an all-time high.
Business of Fashion
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Alibaba's Growth Fails to Impress in Dour Note for China Tech
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s quarterly revenue grew a disappointing 7 percent, reflecting a persistent Chinese consumer malaise that may dog the online commerce leader's big pivot toward AI. The company reported sales of 236.5 billion yuan ($32.8 billion) for the March quarter, versus an average estimate of 237.9 billion yuan. Net income almost quadrupled, though that was partly because of gains from equity investments. Its shares fell more than 6 percent in pre-market trading. Alibaba, a barometer of the Chinese consumer economy because of its sprawl, posted better-than-expected growth in domestic retail after Beijing issued a plethora of incentives to counter US tariffs. But the overall miss stood out after rivals Tencent Holdings Ltd. and Inc. both reported their fastest top-line expansions in years, stoking hopes of a Chinese tech sector revival after years of stagnation. Alibaba itself had been counting on a bounceback in its online commerce business to support an ambitious post-DeepSeek bet on artificial intelligence. Chief executive officer Eddie Wu and chairman Joseph Tsai — two of co-founder Jack Ma's most trusted lieutenants — took the helm in 2023 and are orchestrating Alibaba's comeback from years of government scrutiny. They've refocussed spending on building AI and e-commerce, while accelerating the unloading of non-core assets to bankroll AI investments and an international expansion. The company has pledged more than 380 billion yuan toward AI infrastructure such as data centres over the next three years. Wu declared in February the company's primary objective is now attaining artificial general intelligence — putting it on par with the likes of OpenAI. Alibaba has been releasing AI products at a frenetic pace since DeepSeek's emergence on the global stage this year. Alibaba said its Qwen 3 flagship model, unveiled just last month, rivals DeepSeek's performance on several fronts. On Wednesday, the company updated its video-generating model for the second time in a month. But it's facing intense competition from Chinese AI rivals including Baidu Inc. and Tencent. Globally, Tsai has warned of an AI bubble, cautioning that data centres are being built in the US without clear customers in mind. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says The continued uplift from narrower local services losses and jump in cloud earnings should have more than offset international digital commerce's shortfalls for a second straight quarter. Profit from Taobao-Tmall group (TTG) probably also rose year-over-year as the firm's push for higher gross merchandise value through the joint utilisation of tools within its ecosystem spurred higher customer management revenue. Yet cost hikes could have surpassed revenue gains to lower TTG's 4Q adjusted Ebita margin from a year earlier. - Catherine Lim and Trini Tan, analysts The e-commerce business is also facing growing competition from ByteDance Ltd. and PDD Holdings Inc. In an effort to fend off and PDD, Alibaba said last week it will partner with the Instagram-like Xiaohongshu for Taobao and Tmall merchants to embed product links on the popular influencer platform. Beyond China, Alibaba's international commerce division grew revenue 22 percent — but that slowed from the previous quarter and also missed analysts' projections. For now, Beijing is helping keep the industry afloat, with incentives to buy everything from appliances to smartphones and cars. In May, policymakers announced a slew of stimulus measures including monetary policy easing. By Claire Che and Luz Ding Learn more: Chinese E-Commerce Giants' Discounting Spree Hits Consumer Brands Chinese e-commerce giants Alibaba and have faced increasing competition in recent years from low-cost platforms, such as PDD Holding's Pinduoduo and ByteDance-owned Douyin.
Straits Times
15-05-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
China's Alibaba misses estimates, souring hopes of consumer revival
Alibaba faces intense competition from AI rivals like Tencent, while its e-commerce business is also challenged by the likes of Bytedance. PHOTO: REUTERS BEIJING – Alibaba Group's quarterly revenue missed projections, reflecting a persistent Chinese consumer downturn as well as intense rivalry in the critical field of AI. Revenue for the three months ended March rose 7 per cent to 236.5 billion yuan (S$42.6 billion), versus an average estimate of 237.9 billion yuan. Net income almost quadrupled to 12.4 billion yuan in part because of gains from equity investments. Its shares fell more than 6 per cent in pre-market trading. Alibaba, a barometer of the Chinese consumer economy because of its sprawl, had benefited from government subsidies intended to shield the world's No. 2 economy from a global trade war. Alibaba had been counting on a bounceback in its online commerce business to support a post-DeepSeek pivot to AI. CEO Eddie Wu and Chairman Joseph Tsai – two of co-founder Jack Ma's most trusted lieutenants – took the helm in 2023 and are orchestrating Alibaba's comeback from years of government scrutiny. They've refocused spending on building AI and e-commerce, while accelerating the unloading of non-core assets to bankroll AI investments and an international expansion. The company has pledged more than 380 billion yuan toward AI infrastructure such as data centres over the next three years. Mr Wu declared in February the company's primary objective is now attaining artificial general intelligence – putting it on par with the likes of OpenAI. Alibaba has been releasing AI products at a frenetic pace since DeepSeek's emergence on the global stage this year. Alibaba said its Qwen 3 flagship model, unveiled just last month, rivals DeepSeek's performance on several fronts. On yMay 14 the company updated its video-generating model for the second time in a month. But it is facing intense competition from Chinese AI rivals including Baidu and Tencent. Globally, Mr Tsai has warned of an AI bubble, cautioning that data centres are being built in the US without clear customers in mind. The continued uplift from narrower local services losses and jump in cloud earnings should have more than offset international digital commerce's shortfalls for a second straight quarter. Profit from Taobao-Tmall group (TTG) probably also rose year-over-year as the firm's push for higher gross merchandise value through the joint utilisation of tools within its ecosystem spurred higher customer management revenue. Yet cost hikes could have surpassed revenue gains to lower TTG's fourth quarter adjusted Ebita margin from a year earlier. The e-commerce business is also facing growing competition from ByteDance and PDD. In an effort to fend off and PDD, Alibaba said last week it will partner with China's Instagram-like Xiaohongshu for Taobao and Tmall merchants to embed product links on the popular influencer platform. For now, Beijing is helping keep the industry afloat, with incentives to buy everything from appliances to smartphones and cars. In May, policymakers announced a slew of stimulus measures including monetary policy easing. BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Some AI agent customers say reality doesn't match the hype
Hello and welcome to Eye on AI. In today's edition…Companies experimenting with AI agents say the tech falls short of expectations; Nvidia announces its new chips and positions itself for the post-DeepSeek landscape; Elon Musk and Nvidia join the Microsoft-Blackrock AI fund; AI spammers are 'brute forcing' the internet; and Foxconn emerges as a key player in the global AI race. Hardly a day goes by without a tech company announcing a new AI 'agent' it says will revolutionize workflows and unlock unprecedented efficiencies. But while the makers of these agents—companies like Salesforce, Amazon, Oracle, and tons of startups—are hyping them, some of their customers are growing skeptical that these tools can deliver, at least right now. 'Many customers report a gap between marketing and reality,' reads a new report from CB Insights, which analyzes the main pain points surrounding these products. Throughout March, CB Insights surveyed over 40 customers of AI agents and found that they're running into issues with reliability, integration, and security. Other recent headline events have highlighted some of the same issues. For instance, there was a surge of excitement over Manus, which was billed as the first fully autonomous 'general agent' and lauded by some as another DeepSeek moment for China—until user tests revealed unreliable performance and questionable outputs. The idea of an AI tool that can autonomously and accurately orchestrate and complete complex tasks makes sense as a goal to strive for, and it's possible it can be achieved. But the current reality is that customers are traversing uncertain waters, and the hype cycle and muddled use of the term 'agent' is causing confusion about what users can actually expect. DeepMind founder and CEO Demis Hassabis recently offered an insightful description of the reliability issues surrounding AI agents, comparing it to compounding interest. 'If your AI model has a 1% error rate and you plan over 5,000 steps, that 1% compounds like compound interest,' he said this week at a Google event, according to Computer Weekly. He went on to describe how by the time those 5,000 steps have been worked through the possibility of the answer being correct is 'random.' For companies that need to deliver accurate information and serve their own customers, a random possibility of accuracy is not usually acceptable. CB Insights reported reliability as the top concern among customers using AI agents, with nearly half citing it as an issue. One customer described getting partially processed information and hallucinations from an AI agent it deployed, for example. Customers are also running into issues with integrating AI agents into their existing systems. A lack of interoperability has long caused headaches in the world of enterprise software, but with AI agents, integration is kind of the whole point. 'It was a bit of a gamble that we were signing up for a product where they didn't have quite all the integrations that we wanted,' one customer told CB Insights. Security also tops the list of customer concerns, and for good reason. Having a technology connect to various systems that contain sensitive information and take action autonomously opens up huge risks. Gartner predicts that by 2028, 25% of enterprise breaches will be traced back to AI agent abuse from both internal and external and malicious actors. 'Without proper governance, AI agents can and will inadvertently expose sensitive data, make unauthorized decisions, or create compliance blind spots,' Dimitri Sirota, CEO of data intelligence and compliance company Big ID, told Eye on AI. He said the best way companies can experiment with AI agents safely is by avoiding products that aren't transparent about how the AI agent makes decisions. Companies should also pilot AI agents in controlled environments so they can uncover risks and adjust as necessary before scaling. The market for AI agents is becoming saturated, especially in specific niches like customer support and coding. At the same time, 'no one knows what the hell an AI agent is,' as TechCrunch bluntly put it in a story published last Friday, arguing that the term has become 'diluted to the point of meaninglessness.' Every company is defining 'AI agent' a little differently. Some generally use the term to refer to fully autonomous AI systems that can execute tasks independently, while others use it to refer to systems that follow predefined workflows. Some offer yet other definitions. And some—such as OpenAI—seem to frequently change and contradict their own prior definitions. A lot of tools that were previously called 'AI assistants' are now also being referred to as 'agents.' For IT leaders, this definitional chaos creates confusion and deployment headaches. Not only is it difficult to understand what the products do and how they work, but it's also impossible to compare benchmarks and performance metrics. None of this is to say companies aren't starting to see some benefits from AI agents. But it is a reminder that these are still very early days for this technology, and the hype is running well ahead of reality. And with that, here's more AI news. Sage This story was originally featured on
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Tencent Quickens AI Spending After Sales Grew Fastest Since 2023
(Bloomberg) -- Tencent Holdings Ltd. outlined plans to sharply raise spending on AI infrastructure after posting its fastest pace of revenue growth since 2023, suggesting China's most valuable company is intent on keeping pace with rivals in the post-DeepSeek era. Washington, DC, Region Braces for 'Devastating' Cuts from Congress NYC Plans for Flood Protection Without Federal Funds A Malibu Model for Residents on the Fire Frontlines Despite Cost-Cutting Moves, Trump Plans to Remake DC in His Style Revenue rose a better-than-projected 11% to 172.5 billion yuan ($23.8 billion) for the three months ended December, while net income almost doubled. The company also unveiled plans to buy back at least HK$80 billion worth of shares and proposed a 32% rise in its annual dividend for 2025. Shares in Prosus NV, a major shareholder, gained more than 1% in Europe. China's most valuable company shed light on its AI ambitions — a focus for investors keen to know how it will commercialize artificial intelligence and keep pace with rivals such as Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. after DeepSeek's emergence galvanized development. Tencent plans to devote a low-teens percentage of its 2025 revenue toward capital expenditures, including on AI infrastructure — more than $10 billion, based on analysts' projected sales this year. Billionaire founder Pony Ma described how Tencent made the 'careful consideration' to rely on both in-house and open-sourced models — in much the same way it publishes both its own and third-party games. It plans to use AI to support a broad range of services from its core WeChat service to content. Tencent ramped up its purchases of AI chips in 2024's final quarter to serve increased demand, which should translate into faster cloud revenue growth, executives said. 'We have adopted a dual-core technical strategy,' Ma told reporters during a briefing. 'Throughout our journey in the gaming industry, we have always emphasized a balanced approach between self-developed and licensed games, which complement each other and ultimately deliver the best user experience. We remain committed' to that philosophy. Click here for a liveblog on the results. Tencent is among the major Chinese tech names to report this week, wrapping up a closely watched earnings season for a trillion-dollar sector that's rounding a corner. President Xi Jinping last month met with prominent entrepreneurs including Tencent chief Ma and Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma, signaling Beijing's softening stance toward a private sector it assailed over three years. Also in attendance were a new generation of founders representing industries like chipmaking, electric vehicles and AI, echoing Xi's priorities during a tech face-off against the US. That symposium came just weeks after Hangzhou-based DeepSeek launched a model that rivals OpenAI's while needing much less computing resources. The Chinese startup's R1 has triggered soul-searching among Chinese tech giants, who're now ramping up the release of similar model upgrades or raising investments in AI infrastructure. Alibaba has pledged to spend more than $50 billion on its AI and cloud computing networks over the next three years, declaring human-like AI capabilities its primary objective. Tencent gained roughly 30% or $140 billion in market valuation so far this year, helped by a broader Chinese tech rally induced by the rise of DeepSeek. But that lags behind a 70%-plus jump in shares of arch-rival Alibaba, whose Qwen model underpins one of the country's more popular AI services. What Bloomberg Intelligence Says Tencent's unchanged focus on leveraging artificial intelligence internally, especially in ads and video games, stands a higher chance of generating an immediate payback than its peers. Tencent's 4Q outlook statement lacked the Big Bang approach to AI seen from Alibaba, which is more focused on cloud computing and less certain long-term opportunities in artificial general intelligence (AGI). Tencent confirmed it had reorganized its AI teams to sharpen its focus. - Robert Lea and Jasmine Lyu, analyst Click here for the research. Tencent is playing catch-up. It integrated DeepSeek's open-sourced models into services including WeChat search and its chatbot Yuanbao, which briefly became the country's most downloaded free app on iPhone. With Peacekeeper Elite, one of Tencent's two biggest gaming titles, DeepSeek forms the foundation of a new virtual assistant that teaches players how to shoot. On Tuesday, it released AI services that turn text or images into 3D visuals and graphics, potentially streamlining the often lengthy and costly studio development process. 'Tencent has historically caught up at a later stage, narrowing the market share gap or even surpassing the first mover, backed by its unique WeChat ecosystem,' Goldman Sachs analysts including Ronald Keung wrote in a note before the results. Super-apps like WeChat and ByteDance Ltd.'s Douyin are best positioned to tap into AI application or agent opportunities, they said. With a billion-plus users, WeChat remains Tencent's most dependable asset as it takes on a bigger monetization role in areas from advertising to mini-games and online commerce. It also reflects the economic environment via services like ride-hailing and meal delivery — though the fintech division that incorporates that payments network is now Tencent's most stagnant unit. Tencent scored last year with game releases from Nexon Co.'s Dungeon & Fighter Mobile to its own PC shooter Delta Force — titles it intends to grow into so-called evergreen franchises that can generate steady cash. But there's no guarantee it can repeat that feat in 2025. Tencent joined global peers in slashing development jobs while realigning its focus on fewer key titles. Its pipeline remains strong with a handful of likely hits including Honor of Kings: World, Monster Hunter Outlanders, and the China release of Goddess of Victory: Nikke. --With assistance from Vlad Savov, Claire Che, Luz Ding, Debby Wu and Charlotte Yang. Tesla's Gamble on MAGA Customers Won't Work The Real Reason Trump Is Pushing 'Buy American' The Future of Higher Ed Is in Austin How TD Became America's Most Convenient Bank for Money Launderers A US Drone Maker Tries to Take Back the Country's Skies ©2025 Bloomberg L.P. Sign in to access your portfolio
